bottle up

verb

bottled up; bottling up; bottles up

: to keep (a feeling or emotion) inside instead of expressing it : to hide (a feeling or emotion)

She's kept her feelings about the accident bottled up for too long.

I know he's angry, but he bottles it up inside instead of talking to someone about it.

Examples of bottle up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Oil prices are high because of worries that the war with Iran will keep oil bottled up in the Middle East for a long time. — Stan Choe, Los Angeles Times, 23 Sep. 2026

As the Hurricanes’ defense bottled up the Rattlers, the UM offensive onslaught continued. — Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 11 Sep. 2026

Few bands represent the ethos of a decade quite like Oasis bottles up the ‘90s. — Marshall Shaffer, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2026

Another member of Colorado’s group finally had enough and hurled an orange Gatorade bottle up at the fans. — Seth Emerson, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026

Rhymes for bottle up

• buttercup
• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup